Daily Comment on News and Issues of Interest to Michigan Lawyers

12/23/2013

Canada Overturns Laws Against Prostitution

On Friday, a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada overturned the country's major prostitution laws, saying that their decision is not about whether prostitution should be legal but about whether the legislative means of controlling it infringe upon the constitutional rights of prostitutes. From the decision:

The prohibitions all heighten the risks the applicants face in prostitution — itself a legal activity. They do not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate. They go a critical step further, by imposing dangerous conditions on prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal — activity from taking steps to protect themselves from the risks. That causal connection is not negated by the actions of third‑party johns and pimps, or prostitutes’ so‑called choice to engage in prostitution. While some prostitutes may fit the description of persons who freely choose (or at one time chose) to engage in the risky economic activity of prostitution, many prostitutes have no meaningful choice but to do so. Moreover, it makes no difference that the conduct of pimps and johns is the immediate source of the harms suffered by prostitutes. The violence of a john does not diminish the role of the state in making a prostitute more vulnerable to that violence.

Comments

Canada Overturns Laws Against Prostitution

On Friday, a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada overturned the country's major prostitution laws, saying that their decision is not about whether prostitution should be legal but about whether the legislative means of controlling it infringe upon the constitutional rights of prostitutes. From the decision:

The prohibitions all heighten the risks the applicants face in prostitution — itself a legal activity. They do not merely impose conditions on how prostitutes operate. They go a critical step further, by imposing dangerous conditions on prostitution; they prevent people engaged in a risky — but legal — activity from taking steps to protect themselves from the risks. That causal connection is not negated by the actions of third‑party johns and pimps, or prostitutes’ so‑called choice to engage in prostitution. While some prostitutes may fit the description of persons who freely choose (or at one time chose) to engage in the risky economic activity of prostitution, many prostitutes have no meaningful choice but to do so. Moreover, it makes no difference that the conduct of pimps and johns is the immediate source of the harms suffered by prostitutes. The violence of a john does not diminish the role of the state in making a prostitute more vulnerable to that violence.